Social architecture, bringing together the university community and citizens, to reflect on gender-based violence through the creation of red benches.
Goals
The "Out of the Shadow" project aims to raise awareness and actively involve the university and local community on the issues of violence against women and gender inequality.
The project primarily involves students from the departments and centres of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) area, who are invited to design and create red wooden benches.
These street furniture complements are used as an innovative language to reflect on the issue, attributing to architecture a social function, with a view to increasing knowledge of the phenomenon of violence against women, which is a violation of human rights.
A collaborative project
The project, launched in 2021 as part of the University's equity and diversity policies, is currently included in the University's 2022-2027 Strategic Plan (Well-being Cluster) and is part of the actions envisaged in the Plan for positive action and the Gender equality plan for 2022-2024. It also responds to the principles of Open Science and contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, in particular Goal 5 "Gender equality".
The project is made possible by the participation of the various components of the university community and a network of local institutions such as Opera Universitaria, the cities of Trento and Rovereto, the Service for Employment Support and Environmental Enhancement (SOVA) of the Autonomous Province of Trento, the G. Tartarotti Civic Library of Rovereto, the Municipal Library of Trento, the Magnifica Communità di Fiemme, and private entities including the Cooperativa Sociale Il Gabbiano, LUCE e Design Srl, XLAM Dolomiti Spa and Spazio Verde Soc. Coop. Agricola.
Evolution and results
For every project, a call for proposals was launched for students of the Department of Civil, environmental and mechanical engineering, who were invited to design a red bench.
The project is offered with a training course on violence against women and promotes a reflection on the social function of architecture and design.
With the various editions of the project, several red benches were created and installed in various University locations, and a travelling exhibition was prepared with all the submitted projects for organizations and institutions that would like to display it temporarily.
Each bench has a plaque containing information about the project and the contact details of the Anti-Violence Centre.
Timeline
Voci in catena
by Niccolò Crociani and Eleonora Guanella
Manifattura - Rovereto
The unveiling of the red bench was part of the event organized by the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC) and the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science on the report by the President of Stati Generali delle Donne, Isa Maggi, and the photographic exhibition "Slightly out of focus", by Filippo Tommasoli and Giuditta Vegro.
L'onda
by Sara Di Valerio, Giacomo Fontanive, Gregorio Gottardo
Law Building - Trento
La punta dell'iceberg
by Sara Di Valerio, Giacomo Fontanive, Gregorio Gottardo
PovoZero, Trento
The inauguration of the red benches featured readings of texts on topics such as the "Matilda effect" and the invisibility of women scientists, both understood as forms of gender microviolence. These texts were written by students of the Faculty of Law and the Departments of Mathematics and Physics, under the guidance of Anna Simonati, Daniela Ascenzi, and Elisa Postinghel.
The two inaugurations were preceded, in November 2024, by a conference on the fight against gender-based violence ("Il contrasto alla violenza di genere: una tutela multilivello, fra diritto positivo e diritto vivente"), and the exhibition of projects, which included the designs presented for the second edition of the call.
Ad ogni voce una battaglia vinta
Alessandra Motzo, Sofia Perin
Economics Building, Trento
Nessuno prenderà il tuo posto
Andrea Amistadi, Alberto Rossi with Simone Orsolin and Enrico Scarian
Palazzo Prodi, Trento
The unveiling of the benches came with the conference "Fuori dall’ombra: la violenza contro le donne tra filosofia, letteratura, economia e politica" and the opening of the exhibition of the projects by the participating student groups with readings on the subject of violence against women by the students of the Department of Humanities and the Italian champion of the 2023 Poetry Slam.
Through: from Oppression to Freedom
Emma Battistin, Laura Palazzi, Angelica Pedrotti, Erica Poli, with Alessandro Maso
Palazzo Piomarta - Rovereto (TN)
The inauguration of the red bench is accompanied by readings from the eleventh edition of the literary competition "L'Ateneo dei racconti", in collaboration with Associazione Teatrale Universitaria, the conference "Fuori dalla ombra: i volti della violenza di genere" (Out of the shadow: the faces of gender violence) and the exhibition of submitted projects.
Nuovi orizzonti di pensiero
Benedetta Aliprandi, Matteo Omilli
Polo Ferrari 1 - Trento
In the first edition of the project, the inauguration of the red benches is accompanied by some readings by the participants on the subject of violence against women and by the exhibition of the submitted projects.
